Missed Adventures - Scorpion Tale
by lunar012018
Summary: What happens after the episode we see? Mostly nothing. Sometimes a lot. Here's what I thought might have occurred after the Nikola Tesla story. *** Chapter 3 of 4 (maybe 5) complete. ***
1. Chapter 1

"Yasmin? What's wrong?" The Doctor tapped the door of Yaz's room again and waited. It was a sort of evening in the Tardis, or at least late in the day after their most recent adventure.

The heavy door slid back a small amount. "Come in," Yaz said in a quiet voice. The Doctor could not see her. The room was dark. But, even with its crazy self-designing architecture she knew her way about most of the rooms in her own ship.

She stopped in the doorway trying to make out where the bed and the closet might be. "Can I put a light on?" she asked optimistically.

She heard Yaz mumbling to the Tardis A.I. "Low light please." The room brightened a little with a warm orange glow.

Yaz was lying back on her bed. The Doctor recognized the ornate and heavy item as something she had rescued from revolutionary France. But she could not remember why she had done that. Or why it was in this room right now.

Yaz seemed distracted. "I can go if you want," said the Doctor. "We'll have a chat over a coffee in the morning."

"No. Just wait." Yaz sat up on her elbows, clearly tired. The Doctor could see she was still wearing the clothes from their recent trip to Niagara Falls. A dark, heavy, velvety, many-layered skirt and a formal white blouse with very long sleeves. The hat and jacket were thrown on the floor.

"I can let you get changed first, if you want?" said the Doctor. "We had a very long day." She giggled.

Yaz shook her head. "No, I'm fine like this, for now" she said. "That's not the problem."

The Doctor stepped warily into Yaz's room. "Well, my door is always open," she mumbled. "Or yours in this case."

"Close the door, Doctor," Yaz asked. "Please." Her voice was fluctuating.

The Doctor let the door slide closed behind her, awkwardly bumping into it. "I should have brought a brew. Midnight chats are always easier over tea. Or coffee. You like coffee?"

"Coffee," said Yaz shaking her head. "But either's fine. Although I don't need a brew right now." She looked properly at the Doctor. "What have you got on, by the way?"

The Doctor was taken aback. She was still wearing her thrift-shop shirt, the one with the rainbow across it. "What do you mean? I always wear this. Even when I'm off-duty." It occurred to her as she was saying it that the shirt was getting a bit sweaty. "It's my favorite."

"I didn't mean that," Yaz whispered. She lay back trying to settle her head on several large pillows.

The Doctor looked down at her lower half. "Why? What's wrong with this?" She looked at the baggy pyjama pants with a large pink check then further down at the comically large slippers that smothered her ankles. "I don't sleep a lot. But it does help me relax when you all are pretending it's night time."

"It's too fluffy," Yaz coughed. "But, I didn't need help with sleep."

"No," said the Doctor shrugging. "I can usually hear you snoring no matter where my room is."

"Oi. Offensive," said Yaz. "But look!" She sighed then plucked at the blouse around her waist and opened the tiny button above the belt of her skirt to expose a small area of skin below her navel.

The Doctor frowned then strode over to the bed. "Whoa!" Her eyes opened wide. "What has happened there?" Yaz's skin was no longer its normal color. It had become jet black and shiny and metallic.

Yaz showed how worried she was now. "I think it's to do with that scorpion thing we met. When we were in the spaceship. Above New York."

"Aw, the Skithra queen? Yes." The Doctor was almost excited. "This could be some kind of offworld infection." She ducked down to look at the exposed skin. "That is brilliant." The flesh was still soft and flexible, but the shiny shell-like surface looked tough and resilient.

"Uh? I don't think so." Yaz looked from the Doctor to her exposed belly and back to the Doctor. "It's far from brilliant. What happens if it gets worse?"

The Doctor stood up and looked at her quizzically. "I don't know. What if it does?" She ducked down again. "How much of you is covered? Come on. I'll need to see more than this."

"Um, not a lot." Yaz was already uncomfortable with what was happening to her physically. "But it's all the same. All over."

"Oh! So there is more?" She looked at the shirt as if seeing thru the material, then shook her head. "I'll need to get my sonic. See if I can detect anything."

Yaz grabbed her forearm. "No," she said. "Stay here. You'll wake up everyone else. And what good will a detector do? I'm not a piece of technology you can hack into."

The Doctor wriggled her arm free from Yaz's desperate grip then patted her on the hand. "You might be right. But maybe something organic is hacking into you."

Yaz nodded. "So let's deal with that, Doctor." She fixed her gaze on the Doctor, more confident now.

"Well, let me think," said the Doctor. Then she shook her head. "No. All this guessing is no good." She stared back at Yaz. "I'll need to see it for myself."


	2. Chapter 2

"Just lie back, Yaz," said the Doctor. "I don't bite."

Yaz covered her face, rubbed her eyes then stretched out straight on the bed. "Just be quick," she muttered.

"You can prop up your head if you want," said the Doctor. "I'm not operating on you."

"Damn right," said Yaz. "You're just looking." She plunged her head back into the stack of pillows, then curled her body up to stretch out her abdomen. She pulled the end of her blouse a little further up her belly. The skin was all shiny and metallic black.

"Well, that's the bit I can see already," said the Doctor. "How far up does the infection go? I really need to see more, Yasmin."

Yaz sighed and covered her eyes with her left hand. "I'm sorry. I think I've been wasting your time, Doctor." She puffed out her lips and reached for the next button on her blouse with her right hand. She wrestled the button open and spread the material with her fingers. Her navel and most of her belly were exposed.

"Oh," said the Doctor. "Hmm."

"What?" Yaz rubbed her face and tried to keep her head back on the pillows. Everything would be alright if she did not look.

"I'm sorry to say it's all the way up in there. Are you feeling any pain?"

"What do you mean all the way? No, I'm fine. A bit feverish, that's all."

"Well," said the Doctor. She poked at the edge of the blouse above Yaz's ribs. "The infection seems to have spread further up your front onto your chest. Can you undo another button for me?"

"This is getting ridiculous, Doctor. I think I'm actually fine."

"Just let me see how far the infection has spread. It might be nothing."

Yaz sighed. She used both hands to hastily undo the next button. The white blouse rumpled up around her chest. Her belly and most of her ribs were exposed now. The infection was more widespread but not complete.

"So," tutted the Doctor. "Some new information. Which is good I suppose."

"What? What now?" Yaz's voice was quieter, more stiff in tone.

"It's more extensive than I would have liked. Not good for any infection. But especially not an offworld infection. So hard to tell what the end result might be." The Doctor looked thoughtful. She leaned forward again and inspected the shiny skin.

"What are you wearing under there?" the Doctor asked. There was a soft band of dark velvet sticking out from under the blouse circling round Yaz's chest.

"Just the underwear that came with the outfit," Yaz sighed. "I thought it looked like fun at the time. Is that really relevant?"

"No. Not at all," said the Doctor wrinkling her nose. "You're right. It does look like fun though. I don't bother about all that fuss myself."

"If I can feel you breathing, you're too close," Yaz groaned.

"Sorry." The Doctor looked up. "I think it's spreading though. Not fast. But it's moving up your body. Under that fancy bra thing. Around the sides"

"What? No!" Yaz sat up alarmed. She folded her arms around her front and wrapped the blouse closed at the bottom. "Rest and hydration. That's all I need." She was rambling.

"It's possibly a bit more than that, Yaz," said the Doctor. "Can you turn over for me?" she asked brightly.

"Seriously?" Yaz blinked. "I think a proper doctor would have listened to the symptoms and had this sorted by now. With discussion. Not..." She held her elbows in close and flapped her hands. "...not poking and prodding."

Yaz pulled her blouse tight against her and angrily rolled over in the bed, her head as near to the top as she could get.

"I know you're a bit miffed, but that's not helping." The Doctor tried to direct Yaz without grabbing her. "Wriggle your legs down off this end and let me see your back."

Yaz sighed dramatically and worked her lower half back to hang off the end of her bed. Her toes managed to reach the floor and allow her to balance comfortably.

"Happy?" she grumbled.

"Acceptable," laughed the Doctor. "Now show me your back."

Yaz fiddled again with the part of her blouse tucked into the back of the skirt waistband and revealed a tiny strip of her actual bare skin.

"Okay, Yaz," said the Doctor. "There's not a lot to see there. I'm just going to wiggle this bit of your skirt down a bit. And then, if you don't mind, wiggle up a bit more of your shirt thingy." She spread the materials carefully to see as much as possible. Yaz's skin was infected all over with dark metallic smoothness. The Doctor whistled quietly.

"Good?" murmured Yaz, her face lying sideways in the mound of pillows. "Not good?"

"Not perfect," said the Doctor. She frowned and tried to see how the flesh was being affected. "You don't feel stiff or heavy anywhere?"

"I feel fine. A bit hot, a bit cold. A bit thirsty and now… now I'm a bit hungry."

"And no previous problems with your spine?"

"My spine?" Yaz frowned into the bedsheet. "Not that I noticed during months of police physical training." She pushed her elbows in and attempted to turn round.

The Doctor placed a hand between her shoulders and directed her firmly to stay still. "Maybe not this very second, Yaz. I've really got to think about this!"


	3. Chapter 3

"So," said the Doctor. "What we need to do - quite quickly - is to get your body to reject the infection."

Yasmin wriggled her shoulders and turned her face round. "Um. It's already not doing that."

The Doctor pressed Yaz's shoulders down again. "I know," she said. "Because your cells are already way too sleepy. You need to wake them up. Make them fight."

Yaz squished her face into the sheet of her bed and tried to turn her face to the other side. "And how do you think you're going to do that?" She was regretting her decision to call her friend in. "Isn't there a space disease hospital we can go to?

"It'll be far too late." The Doctor looked worried for the first time. "Treating it here is our best chance." She turned round to sit on the bed.

"Well…" Yaz started to talk.

"Shh," said the Doctor. "This is the bit where I think." She rubbed her chin with her left hand and wiggled the index finger of her right hand. "A bit of agitation. Somewhere on your body where it'll hurt the least."

Yaz wriggled on the bed. "You're not giving me some kind of creepy massage."

"No," said the Doctor. "Not tonight." She mimed waving the palm of her hand. "More like a friendly contact with a friendly part of the anatomy."

Yaz frowned. "There's no friendly part of my anatomy, thank you."

The Doctor leaned back. "Well. What about that bit back there, that you sit on? Plenty back there to cushion the blow."

"You're going to spank me? Have you gone mad Doctor?"

"That's not at all what I had in mind." The Doctor wrinkled her lips. "A bit of stimulation of the pain receptors. Wakes up your defenses. Does wonders."

"You're not spanking me. That's even weirder than the massage idea."

"The massage was your idea. But, you're right, something more scientific is in order."

"I don't understand, Doctor. You're going to measure my arse. That's just wrong."

"No. This is more subtle. I've got something from the Tang dynasty. Looks a bit gruesome. But it'll do the trick."

"No, Doctor. You are not abusing me with some torture device."

"It's more of a stick, really."

"I don't care. This was a stupid idea." Yaz wriggled up to the head of her bed and tried to slip off the other side.

"Now now." The Doctor grabbed firmly onto the belt around her friend's waist. "Calm down, Jasmin Tiberias Khan."

"What?" said Yaz, alarmed. "That's not my name."

"Okay. Just sort of came out. Anyway. Listen to me. We can just use this belt you're wearing. It's thin enough."

Yaz looked down at her waist and raised her eyebrows. "You're not going to tie me up, are you Doctor?"

"I wouldn't need this if I was." The Doctor snorted. "You'd already be trussed up and unable to speak if that's what I really wanted." She laughed to herself.

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing." The Doctor wrinkled her left cheek, blushing a little. "You're just reminding me of something Rose used to say. Stay still." She reached under Yaz's skirt and wrestled the buckle for the belt.

Yaz's body began to buck. Her arms stretched forward and she grabbed hold of the headboard. "Shit," she whispered.

"What's wrong, Yaz? I'm being gentle."

"It's not… you." Yaz grit her teeth and hissed. "My back is hurting."

The Doctor could see the back of Yaz's shirt rippling. Parts of the fabric looked bumpy. She lifted the lower end of the shirt and looked at Yaz's back. "Just a quick look, Yaz. Oh."

"Wh-what is.. it?"

"Your vertebrae, the bones down your back, are getting a bit swollen. Not good."

"I-I'm feeling all stiff. I don't think I can turn round." Her shoulders were bunching together and her top half was tensing, but she remained face down on the bed.

The Doctor acted quickly, pulling the belt from the waist band of the skirt and jumping back onto the bedroom floor in one motion. "Just a little stinging sensation," she announced. She angled her feet at right angles in their fluffy slippers and stood upright.

The belt flicked back, then whipped forward with a crack on the bulge of Yaz's rear end. "Oof," Yaz grunted.

The Doctor drew in a quick breath, lashed the belt against the skirt again, then finished with a third crack of the impromptu whip. Yaz grunted again, pushing her face into the pillow each time. "Oof. Unh."

The Doctor stepped back to the bed, pushed up the back of Yaz's shirt. The skin was shiny, black, metallic and still spreading. The vertebrae were pulsing up her spine. Then Yaz buckled and bent into the sheets. The back bones cracked into a thick line and started to poke upwards roughly.

"Well, I can see straight away that's not going to be enough. And I think I can see what's wrong," said the Doctor.

Yaz was reluctant to ask. "I-It's.. fine. We just need... a bit more time." She closed her eyes. "Wh-whip me again."

"No," said the Doctor. "Your skirt is too thick. You can't feel a thing thru all those layers." She looked pleased that she had solved that minor mystery. "No sting, no reaction."

"I'm sorry," said Yaz. "That's just what came with the outfit."

"I'll have to be quick, Yaz," said the Doctor.

"I-I know," Yaz whispered. "Take them... off."


End file.
